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Mercer, Pennsylvania - 3 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Mercer Area Sd #290 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,905 per pupil, Mercer Area Sd ranks #481 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,063
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$15,905
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Mercer Area Sd operates 3 public schools serving 1,063 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Mercer County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,905 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending. See how Pennsylvania compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 42.2% local, 48.2% state, and 9.6% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 52/100, ranked #290 of 648 in Pennsylvania against a state average of 49, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (5 AP courses district-wide), a 328.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 36.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 92.9% White, 1.5% African American, 0.8% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Mercer Area Ms, with a diversity index of 16.6/100.
Its largest campus is Mercer Area El Sch, enrolling 567 students (58% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Mercer Area Ms, at 136 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Mercer Area El Sch accounts for 53.3% of all Mercer Area Sd student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Mercer Area Sd a distant remainder — means Mercer Area Sd-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Mercer Area Sd school enrollment varies 4.2× across entities
Mercer Area Sd school enrollment ranges from 136 students (lowest) to 567 students (highest), a spread of 431 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Mercer Area Sd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 95.9% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Mercer Area Sd student-counselor ratio is 328:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Variation between sub-units within Mercer Area Sd is typically wider than the Mercer Area Sd-aggregate figure suggests.
Mercer Area Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 36.5% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Mercer Area Sd has 3 schools, including 1 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle. Total enrollment is 1,063 students.
How much does Mercer Area Sd spend per student?
Mercer Area Sd spends $15,905 per student. The district has an equity score of 52/100, ranking #290 in Pennsylvania.
What is the demographic composition of Mercer Area Sd?
Mercer Area Sd students are 92.9% White, 1.5% African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.7% Hispanic or Latino, averaged across 3 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Mercer Area Sd?
Mercer Area Sd has an equity score of 52/100, ranking #290 out of 648 districts in Pennsylvania.